Maybe it has to do with this part of the theory?

"...Zamboni found blockages not only in the veins in the neck directly beneath the brain -- the jugular veins --but in a central drainage vein, the azygos vein, which flushes blood down from the brain along the spine. Blockages here, he found were associated with the most severe form of MS, primary progressive, in which patients rapidly deteriorate. For this form of MS, there currently is no effective treatment..."

From the link Laura supplied, with thanks to her!

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNew...1121?s_name=W5

Not all of us with spinal lesions have a severe form, are primary progressive or rapidly deteriorating. This just sounds like more of the standard beliefs and impressions that, for some, are not true.

Too many years with this disease and a major skeptic

Re-reading Zamboni's statement:

emphasis added. He's talking about blockages in the azygous vein, which drains from the spine, not talking about spinal lesions. Blockages in that vein happen to be associated with PPMS (not necessarily in ALL cases AFAIK), and PPMS in and of itself is not associated with spinal lesions.

Also, as we know, lesion load does not correlate with disability. However, emerging research has found that iron deposition does correlate with disability, and it is this deposition of iron that is believed to be associated with the drainage problems that CCSVI poses. Iron leaks into the brain, damages tissue, and it is that level of iron in the brain that is closely linked to how disabled a person with MS is.

I think it's important to read the studies itself, as I have noted errors in the news reporting and some of the articles commenting on the studies. It's amazing how they read one thing in a study and report something else. In one article, they mentioned Zamboni found 90% of people with MS had CCSVI. Nope. It was 100%. Every single person he has studied, even in the blinded studies, that had clinically definite MS also had CCSVI.

here's a re-link to the list of actual studies.

I'm waiting for Marc/ WC Kamikaze to have this treatment and how it helps him or one of you other trusted Friends, before saying yea or nay.

Ahh I wish I lived closer to the 'testing' locations. I didn't get an email back, probably since I live very far east in Canada, and they were swamped with people emailing them in Buffalo/Hamilton from what I understand.

One good thing about testing Dr Zamboni's theory is that the mice step will be skipped and only humans with the real disease will be targeted!! I bet we know something within the next year or so.

gmi

I really want to investigate this. I gave some info about it to my neuro when I saw him in October, but he just glanced at the info and tried to give it back to me. I was like "no. I want you to read this and investigate the information for me", and told him to keep it.

I doubt he'll do anything with the info tho.

I am going to call my regular doctor tomorrow and ask him to investigate it for me. I think I'll have more success with him researching it because his dad has MS and so did his grandmother. He might want to know about CCSVI (sp? Does anyone else think it looks like a Roman numeral?) for personal reasons, along with professional reasons.

I really want to look into any possible treatments I could get out of this. I'm not so thrilled with the possibility of taking blood thinners or having surgery, but it doesnt sound as depressing as stabbing myself with needles, or just sitting here feeling the MS take over. (having a bad week...I feel like I'm about to have a major exacerbation. Numbness in both shoulders, both arms, and my chest. It's scaring the crap out of me...stupid lesion at C4 is probably responsible, and it's ticking me off and freaking me out at the same time. I have a ton of anxiety from this.)